In the frantic rush to prognosticate about the impact of Gmail's new tabs on the email ecosystem this month, pundits alternately declared email marketing revolutionized, disrupted, unaffected, dead, and improved. Some urged marketers to appeal to their subscribers to rescue them from the promotions tab where their messages would likely be ignored - which may or may not be a mistake. Others proposed tactics that might game filters to help deliver messages to the primary inbox - almost certainly a mistake.

Not to be harsh, but you might be one of the biggest stumbling blocks to success if your email program isn't producing the results that you know it should. After years of working with email marketers, I've compiled a list of 20 work habits or mindsets that stop progress in its tracks. Here are the first 10. Do any feel familiar?

I recently received an inquiry from a client who wanted to know if push notifications from apps might be cannibalizing his company's email program engagement. It's a question that continues to be asked as more and more communication channels are added to the marketer's quiver, begging the question, is channel attribution like a "snipe hunt"?

In marketing, we strive to create differentiation, yet we operate in a world of clichs. I'm as guilty as everyone else in framing strategies and tactics with clichs, and of course have my favorites.

Consumers are increasingly in the driver's seat: constantly connected, Internet-enabled, socially linked and mobile-powered. According to the Mobile Marketing Association, 48% of Americans never turn off their phones, and 64% sleep with their mobile device at their bedside. Consumers are growing to expect more intelligent marketing that is tailored to their needs, and they expect to connect with your brand however and whenever they want to. The following are a few things to keep in mind as you contemplate marketing to the "on-demand" consumer:

In a risky move, more and more marketers are asking their Gmail subscribers to relocate their emails from their Promotions tab to their Primary over the past couple of weeks. I say "risky" because the decision to make this request is based on inadequate information and false logic. Let me explain.

Like most marketers, you have a lot riding on your email program's performance. The better it performs, the better your company does, and the more likely you are to get a bonus, promotion or bigger budget. But you need to build the right foundation first in order to push your program to that higher level. Otherwise, you'll make a lot of avoidable mistakes, create endless frustration, take longer than hoped and end up with results that aren't as good as they could have been. The self-audit below, that incorporates elements of a "people, process, technology and strategy" framework, is a …

It's important to craft the right subject line to make your email marketing more effective. Regardless of the content of your email, keep subject lines short (max of 50 characters) and be specific, to tell the reader what they will get by opening your email. Take a look at these 15 email subject line formulas to ensure your emails get opened.

I'm going to throw it out there: The average email marketer focuses too much on increasing open rates. I'll even take it a step further: The average email marketer also focuses too much on click rates! Now, I know what you're thinking: "How can my emails trigger sales if users don't open or click on my emails in the first place?" This is a legitimate concern, but it shouldn't be your only or even primary concern. Often, email marketers need to be reminded why they're sending thousands of emails out in the first place: to increase sales or conversions.

Email marketers have been squarely focused on Gmail for nearly a month now. With the recent change in the tabular format of the inbox, marketers are concerned about how this will impact their engagement and conversion metrics. But is Gmail's tabbed inbox really worth all the fuss?